Sunday, 17 May 2020

Debt stock rises to GH¢236.1bn

Ghana’s total debt stock now stand
at GHC236.1 billion as at end of March 2020 (first quarter of 2020) from
GHC219.2 billion, according to data from the Bank of Ghana.

This means that about GHC16.9
billion of debt has been contracted by the government from January to March of
2020.

According to the report, the
domestic component of the debt now stands at GHC111.3 billion, while the
foreign debt has inched up to GHC124.8 billion.

The 2020 debt strategy focuses on an appropriate financing mix
to mitigate the costs and risks to achieve the desired composition of the
public debt portfolio with respect to borrowing from external and domestic
sources.

The financing strategy
for 2020 proposes issuances of Government securities on the domestic market and
create cash buffers on top of the programmed net domestic financing for active
liability management and cash management purposes.

The strategy is to issue / re-open medium to long-term
instruments (2-year, 3-year, 5-year, 7-year, 10-year, 15-year and 20 Year
bonds) and refinance some of the maturing Treasury bills and Bonds. The
strategy also plans to issue marketable and non-marketable debt against
possible contingent liabilities arising from the financial and energy sectors in
2020.

On
the external front, the strategy proposes the issuances on the International
Capital Market provided market conditions are favourable and additional
external borrowing for priority development projects, which cannot be financed
on concessional terms.